Closed Beta Stage 1 - we`ll begin by sending stripped down game client with updater tool and single-player skirmish to the first 50 testers. You`ll get a chance to play around with this for the first two weeks. During this phase we`ll be solving technical problems preventing people from starting the game, and other major crashes.

Closed Beta Stage 2 - will commence 2 weeks later. We`ll invite 50 additional testers, and send out a major update that will feature multiplayer skirmish mode. During stage 2 we`ll be fine tuning connectivity, chat and basics of player vs player gameplay. All 3 multilayer skirmish mods will be available, including team defense of huge capital fortresses.

Closed Beta Stage 3 - starts 3 weeks later. We might invite up to 100 additional testers (but this is unconfirmed.) We`ll send out another major update that will add MMORTS game mode with all early game content, including player vs player. But at this point we`ll disable singleplayer skirmish and multiplayer as we`ll need everyone playing MMORTS mode. We`ll do account reset every couple of days for the first 2 weeks. And once a week for the following 3 weeks.

Open Beta Stage 4 - comes 5 weeks later. From 500 to 1,000 additional testers will be invited, and only MMORTS will be featured. For the next 6 weeks we`ll be adding late game MMORTS content until Gold Master. There should be 2 or 3 server wipes.

Stress Test Stage 5 - is a good possibility once we hit Gold Master. We`ll invite up to 2,000 additional players to play MMORTS mode of the product for free for 2 weeks before the game becomes available in store. This will help us stress test the servers and hopefully we`ll get some players hooked. We might be able to allow Stage 5 player accounts to keep their progress once they upgrade to a full retail version.